ALL GRADES SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO BRING AN OUTSIDE GUEST TO SCHOOL DANCES

OPINION BY OLIVIA BENNER

Wadsworth High School puts on two dances each year that are available to the entire student body, meaning that all grades are invited and given the opportunity to attend. These dances are Homecoming, which takes place in October, and Winter Formal in March.

Many students look forward to both of these occasions, as it is a chance to get pictures, eat dinner, and attend the dance, making for an overall fun time with their peers. Although many of the students attend with a group of friends or a date from within the school district, there are a number who choose to be accompanied by an outside guest. While all grades would like the opportunity to bring someone from outside of the WHS walls, this is currently only a privilege that is available to the senior class. For seniors that choose this, they must fill out a form that is provided in the office and get administration approval in order to bring a guest from another district. However, there are still restrictions on who can attend as a guest so that seniors who choose this option cannot bring anyone. The guest must be under 21 years old, follow all Wadsworth High School policies, and provide contact information and approval from administration at their school. Bringing an outside guest is considered to be a ‘senior privilege’ that is provided by our principals.

But a large majority of students believe that this shouldn’t only apply to students in the senior class, but to everyone within the school. Many underclassmen have friends and relationships with people outside of the district that they would want to attend the dance with.

Justin Ferguson is a senior at WHS, and says that he thinks all grades should be given the opportunity to bring an outside guest.

“All classes should be allowed to bring an outside guest to school dances because it’s not fair if you’re an underclassmen that is dating someone from a different school and you’re not allowed to bring them, that would really suck,” Ferguson said.

Although it is nice to have senior privilege in different ways throughout the school, such as the senior commons, early release, and late arrival, guests attending dances should be available to all grade levels. Many of the students that want to bring an outside guest but cannot because of grade level will turn to their senior friends for help. By having a senior fill out the permission sheet, it allows them to make it seem as though the person they are bringing into the district would be ‘their guest’. This essentially allows underclassmen to bring whoever they would like if they can have help from a senior. This creates a lack of trust between the students and administrators, since many underclassmen use different tactics to get dates and friends into the dance.

“It should be for all classes because many of the students are cheating the system anyway,” Ferguson said.

If the school were to open up bringing a guest to all grade levels then it would avoid instances like this. It would also make it so that, in the case that a guest is brought the school is aware of the exact student that they would be attending the dance with. In the case of an emergency or event where you would need to contact the guests’ administration it would cause less chaos for the principals to know who is attending with them.

Junior Zac Klaehn agreed with the idea that all grades should be allowed to bring an outside guest with the reasoning that it would not be “that big of a deal” for every grade to have the opportunity to bring a guest.

“I don’t think that there should be a boundary with who students can bring to dances, all grades should be allowed to have an outside guest” Klaehn said.

Although it would make it so that administrators have to approve more guests, it would also allow for them to be fully aware of all outside students that are coming into the school district. This would improve the amount of students that actually attend the dances, the trust relationship between students and principles, and the organization of those coming to the dance.